Pair of angling legends with Allamakee County ties to be inducted into Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame in 2020


Captain Ted Peck ... Submitted photo.

Tommy Skarlis ... Submitted photo.

Former Dorchester resident Tommy Skarlis and Captain Ted Peck of New Albin to be enshrined

Ten individuals have recently been announced as members of the Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame Class of 2020. Three of this year’s 10 inductees are from Iowa, with two of those having direct ties to Allamakee County.

Captain Ted Peck of New Albin will be inducted into that hallowed hall of anglers in the Legendary Guide category, and tournament fishing superstar Tommy Skarlis - once a resident of Dorchester and currently residing in Denver, IA - is being inducted under the Legendary Angler category within that exclusive company. That pair will have their photo and biography posted to the Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame website - https://www.freshwater-fishing.org - in late January and will then have their individual plaque hung in the Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame and Museum in Hayward, WI later in the spring of 2020.

The third of that notable Iowa trio in this year’s Hall of Fame class is the late Jim McDonnell, who founded the Iowa Great Lakes Fishing Club in 1967 and served as its president until his death in 2012. All three will join a class of angling elite currently numbering more than 450.

In a congratulatory letter to new inductees, Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame Executive Director Emmett A. Brown said, “This represents  quite an accomplishment when one considers there have been tens of millions of sport anglers over the past few centuries”.

“From developing innovative product lines to help everyone catch more fish or guiding thousands of clients to outstanding fishing, these Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Famers have been pioneers and ambassadors for the sport so many people embrace,” remarked Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame leaders in a released statement following announcement of this year’s class of inductees. “Their milestones and legacies have shaped the boundaries of the world of fishing as we know it today.”

There are several categories for this nationally recognized fresh water sportfishing achievement program. The Legendary Angler category considers people who have had at least a regional achievement in their endeavors to have a lasting impact to benefit fresh water sportfishing, such as what Skarlis has.

The Legendary Guide category is one of the more popular categories when it comes to the general public and for that slot people who have gained, by both their expertise and professionalism, a status of credibility and immortality judged so by their customers, the region and/or their peers fill this niche. Other categories include Legendary Communicator, Organizational/Governmental Achievement Recognition, Special Recognition Award and Legendary Artist.

TOMMY SKARLIS LEGENDARY ANGLER
Tommy Skarlis emerged on to the tournament fishing trail in the early 1990s and has reigned among its most prominent figures for going on nearly three decades. Many of those years came when he was living in Allamakee County, where he still owns property in the Upper Iowa River valley near Dorchester.

Following a move within the state of Iowa to Denver several years ago, Skarlis’ tournament success has been slowed a bit in recent years, beginning when he suffered a broken neck in a fall from a tree stand on his Allamakee County property in 2016. After making a recovery from that accident, Skarlis was most recently diagnosed with a brain tumor in the spring of this year that has currently left him in a wheelchair.

Although limited by those recent challenges, Skarlis has refused to allow them to keep him from his love of fishing, as he has competed in several tournaments since having brain surgery earlier this spring. Most recently, he and his partner, Jeff Lahr of Dubuque, finished third in the Masters Walleye Circuit World Walleye Championship held on Lake Winnebago in Oshkosh, WI during the first week in October.

His selection for the 2020 Hall of Fame is best summarized in the following release from the Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame:

Tommy Skarlis is often described as one of the most versatile anglers on the planet. Most notable sportfishing anglers are stereotyped into a single category, such as angler, guide or communicator. He’s a touring walleye and crappie fishing professional who enjoys hooking panfish through the ice, bass in the backwaters and walleyes on the massive Great Lakes. His charismatic, acute ability to share this multi-species knowledge with others makes Skarlis even more significant to the outdoor world.

An Iowa native, Skarlis began fishing at age three. He honed his fishing skills on the Mississippi River, along with the small lakes, farm ponds and expansive reservoirs throughout the Midwest.

Skarlis’ knack for stalking walleyes turned into a tournament fishing career in 1991. From 1993 through 1998 he fished the Masters Walleye Circuit (MWC), and along the way, he earned many high honors. In addition to qualifying for the championship eight-out-of-eight times, he won the event once on Big Stone Lake, MN.

In 1996, Skarlis joined In-Fisherman’s Professional Walleye Trail (PWT). He thundered through the circuit, winning the prestigious “PWT Angler of the Year” title in 2004, snatching 17 top-ten finishes, capturing several “Big Fish” awards and qualifying for the PWT Championship 13 straight times. Skarlis earned the nicknames “Mr. Erie” and “Mr. April” by winning the first PWT event in 2001 at the Detroit River, and in 2002, at Lake Erie.

In 2008, he won the most prestigious title in walleye fishing - the FLW Walleye Tour Championship. Skarlis has qualified for over 40 national championships and is one of the hottest tournament anglers in the history of competitive sportfishing. Skarlis was named one of the Top-Ten Anglers on the planet by Outdoor Life magazine.

CAPTAIN TED PECK LEGENDARY GUIDE
Captain Ted Peck was actually confirmed in a pair of Hall of Fame categories with his nomination this year - Legendary Guide and Legendary Outdoor Communicator, providing evidence of his love of not only experiencing the great outdoors, but also sharing that experience with others. Starting as a fishing guide on the Mississippi River over 40 years ago, he has been communicating the outdoors experience even longer, with at least one outdoor column or broadcast published/aired every week since 1973.

Peck said Tim Lesmeister, chairman of the Hall of Fame selection committee of 11 respected individuals in the sportfishing community told him he had been nominated by several persons last spring. Lesmeister was enshrined in the Hall of Fame several years ago as a Legendary Outdoor Communicator.

“Tim told me not to get my hopes up,” Peck said. “He said it can take five to seven years after nomination before somebody is inducted - if they ever get in. He said just getting nominated is a great honor. Actually getting enshrined is way beyond a long shot.”

Jesse Simpkins, also on the selection committee, told Peck he was unanimously confirmed in both the Legendary Communicator and Legendary Guide categories. But a nominee can only be inducted under one category.

“Jesse told me it was nomination letters from my daughters, Jessica and Emily, that convinced the committee to induct me as a Legendary Guide,” Peck said. “I never even considered the possibility of induction into the Hall of Fame. Early last spring Emily and her fiancé visited the Hall of Fame in Hayward, WI when they came home from San Diego. The kid loves to bust my chops.  She said, ‘Your buddies Babe Winkelman and Spence Petros are in the Hall of Fame. Why aren’t you in there too, Dad?’ I told her because the process is difficult, starting with nomination, and that nobody had ever nominated me.  This prompted the kids into contacting Spence and others in the industry, like Rat-L-Trap CEO Wes Higgins”.

Peck’s selection for the Hall of Fame is summarized in the following release:

Captain Ted Peck started guiding the waters of northwest Illinois in 1975, branching out to rivers in southwest Wisconsin in 1981. For the past 20 years he has based out of Pool Nine on the Mississippi River where he teaches the history and biodiversity of this great resource while guiding clients into multiple species of fish in this Iowa/Minnesota/Wisconsin boundary water. Peck has been writing about the outdoors even longer, penning at least one newspaper or magazine article every week for 47 years.

In 2011 he authored a book “Mississippi Musings with the Old Guide” which is a collection of vignettes and observances from his experiences as a fishing guide. In 2015 Peck introduced his own signature series lures, the ‘Teddy Cat’ and the ‘Perchanator’. Bill Lewis Lures honored Peck in 2017 by renaming a Rat-L-Trap “Red Head Uncle Ted”.

When not communicating the outdoors experience in broadcast and print, Peck continues to carry this message with seminars, public appearances and as a guide, fishing an average of 150 days every year all over the United States. He holds a U.S. Coast Guard captain’s OUPV (Operator of Uninspected Passenger Vessels) license and has been a licensed Wisconsin fishing guide since 1981.

The 68-year-old Peck was born and raised in Carroll County, IL. He graduated from Southern Illinois University in 1973 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism. Peck retired from a career with the Beloit Fire Department in 2001 with the rank of Lieutenant. While on the job he served as Public Information Officer in addition to his firefighting/rescue/paramedic duties.

Peck currently writes a weekly column in the Janesville Gazette - for which he was named Wisconsin Outdoor Writer of the Year in 1999. He blogs almost weekly on his website, www.tedpeckfishing.com. He has been a regular monthly contributor to Game & Fish Publications since 1987. He is also a masthead editor for Big River Magazine.

Over the years Peck has penned numerous articles for a variety of state, regional and national magazines. He has also worked with nine different TV production companies on various outdoors segments, the most recent of which is a documentary film on the Driftless Area and Mississippi River in Crisis due out early in 2020. Prior to moving to Iowa in 2006, Peck had weekly radio fishing shows on WJVL in Janesville, WI and WXRX in Rockford, IL for 15 years.

Ted Peck has been married to his wife, Candy, for 48 years and has two adult children, Jessica and Emily, who are both avid anglers and outdoorswomen. The Peck family lives in rural New Albin.